Pakistan And The World Saw Power Of ‘Sindoor’ Of Daughters Of Bharat: PM Modi

Patna: All eyes were on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, expecting yet another stern message on terrorism and Pakistan, as he arrived standing on an open-top vehicle and waving to the audience at the venue of his public rally at Bikramganj in Rohtas district of Bihar on Friday.

And he did not let them down, warning that if terror ever raised its hood, the arrows of India would mash it again. This was Modi’s first public rally in the state since the one at Madhubani on April 24, in which he had vowed retribution beyond imagination for the perpetrators of the Pahalgam terror attack in which 26 people were killed.

In between the Operation Sindoor had happened, and the people were hoping that he would continue from where he had left at the Madhubani rally. The Prime Minister sensed the mood and lost no time in moving to the issue.

“I had come to Bihar a day after the heinous terror attack at Pahalgam and had promised to the country that we will raze the hideouts of the terrorists and their patrons to dust. I had vowed to mete out a punishment beyond imagination. Today I have come here after completing my promise. The people who had wiped away the ‘sindoor’ (vermillion) of our sisters, our army turned their installations into ruins,” Modi said.

“Pakistan and the world saw the power of the ‘sindoor’ of the daughters of Bharat. Our armed forces brought the Pakistani army, under whose shelter the terrorists felt safe, to its knees in one stroke,” Modi added.

The Prime Minister added that Pakistan’s airbases and military installations were destroyed in just a few minutes, and the world saw the strength of the ‘new’ Bharat.

"But they should understand that what they have seen is just one arrow of the quiver of Bharat. The country’s fight has neither stopped nor halted. If the hood of terrorism rises again, our arrow will mash it again,” Modi said.

Pointing out that Bihar was the land of Veer Kunwar Singh, the hero of the 1857 war of Independence, the Prime Minister lauded the state for regularly sending a large number of people to the army and the Border Security Force (BSF), who sacrificed their youth for the country.

“We saw the sacrifice of BSF sub-inspector Mohammad Imtiyaz while serving the motherland on May 10. I pay my respectful tributes to the brave son of Bihar,” Modi added.

Focus on the enemy with - Maoists

The Prime Minister asserted that the fight was with every enemy of the country, whether residing beyond the borders or inside. The Prime Minister moved to the Naxal violence, especially in light of the recent incidents in which several top Maoist leaders were killed.

Reminding the people of Naxal violence in Rohtas, Kaimur and other neighbouring districts, in which even schools and cellphone towers were blown up, and the people constructing roads were killed, Modi said that such people were punished, while the youths were brought to the mainstream of the society.

"There were more than 125 districts affected by Naxal violence in the country prior to 2014, now there are just 18. The day is not far when Maoist violence will be completely neturalised. Development and peace reign when violence stops,” Modi said.

Thrust for the Bihar polls

The Bikramganj venue, located in southwest Bihar, also indicated that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will focus more on the area, which has come up as a weak point for it and its allies. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) could win just two out of 22 seats in the 2020 Assembly polls in the region, and lost all four Lok Sabha seats in the 2024 general elections.

With the Bihar Assembly elections just around five months away, the Prime Minister attacked the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and its president, former Union railway minister Lalu Prasad, without directly taking their names.

Referring to the railway ‘land-for-jobs scam’, Modi asserted that the people who had the responsibility to provide modern trains to Bihar, looted the land of the poor in the name of providing jobs in the railways.

“This was their method of social justice. They robbed the rights of the poor and lived like a king. The natives of Bihar will have to be alert against the lies and deception of the people of ‘jungle raj’ (lawlessness or rule of the jungle),” Modi said.

The Prime Minister added that the people, who cheated Bihar most and during whose reign the poor and the deprived sections of the society had to migrate from the state were now spreading the lies in the name of social justice.

“The Dalits, backwards and tribals did not have toilets or bank accounts for decades. A large section of them used to stay in huts, they did not have pucca houses, crores were homeless, they lived like beggars. I asked them was this the social justice of Congress and the RJD,” Modi said.

The Prime Minister pointed out that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government has brought the new dawn of social justice in Bihar by directly reaching the Dalits, Mahadalits, backward and extremely backward classes and providing them benefits of government schemes. He expressed belief that further development would happen.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, deputy chief ministers Samrat Chaudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha, Union ministers Jitan Ram Manjhi, Rajiv Ranjan Singh aka Lalan Singh, Giriraj Singh, Chirag Paswan, Nityanand Rai, Satish Chandra Dubey, and Raj Bhushan Chaudhary were present at the public meeting.

Nitish Kumar’s speech and Chirag Paswan’s slogans

Modi and Nitish were seen having a jovial exchange on the dais. Speaking on the occasion, Kumar welcomed him and pointed out that the NDA government was formed in Bihar for the first time on November 24, 2005.

“Did any government prior to it work? Today, we are seeing so many women present here. The previous governments did not do any work for them. We reserved 50 per cent seats for women in the local self-governance bodies and provided 35 per cent reservation to them in government jobs,” Nitish said.

The chief minister’s speech was without any fumbles or surprises. He added that all the development schemes to provide electricity, drinking water, toilets to all people, and road connectivity to all village habitations would be completed by the end of June this year. He also exhorted the audience to stand up and greet Modi.

Union minister and Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) president Chirag Paswan, who was present on the dais at the time of Modi’s arrival, took over the public address system to welcome him with slogans. With the move, he reiterated being fully with the NDA, despite his political posturing.

The new infrastructure projects inaugurated and launched

Before addressing the public rally, the Prime Minister inaugurated and laid the foundation stones of infrastructure projects worth Rs 48,500 crore.

The projects dedicated to the nation, included the 127km-long Patna – Gaya – Dobhi four-lane highway built at a cost of Rs 1910 crore, which will significantly reduce the travel time to Gaya; a four-lane elevated road in Gopalganj town; automated signaling system between Sasaram and Anugrah Narayan Road railway stations and a third rail line between Sone Nagar and Muhammad Ganj stations; a 192-bed boys hostel and staff quarters at Navodaya Vidyalaya at Jehanabad.

The Prime Minister also laid the foundation stone of the second stage of the NTPC Super Thermal Power Project at Nabinagar in Aurangabad district. It will have three units of 800 MW each, and will cost around Rs 30,000 crore.

The other projects for which the foundation stones were laid, included four highways of four to six lanes, a bridge over the Ganga between Buxar and Bharauli, and five terminal platforms at Hardinge Park in Patna.